


Jade Mountain Café

by Moondragon8



Category: Wings of Fire - Tui T. Sutherland
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bad Parenting, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kestrel (Wings Of Fire) - Freeform, Multi, My First Fanfic, Rating May Change, aro/ace characters, children aren't taken care of properly, i'm hesistant to put child abuse but.., listen there is as much child abuse as there is in wof canon, not nearly as dramatic as it sounds, there is no actual time travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-11-13 13:34:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moondragon8/pseuds/Moondragon8
Summary: The Jade Mountain Café is one of the most well-known cafes in town. It's been around forever, and the owners are friendly and easy to talk to-unless you happen to ask where they grew up, in which case it's a clipped "In town." and nothing else.The past and present stories run parallel, until the past catches up with the present, and nothing is the same.





	1. 1) Present

Clay stretched awkwardly and stumbled out of bed. He came over and gently shook Ash awake. Ash rolled over, moaning, and fumbled for his glasses before making his way slowly downstairs. Clay decided not to mention that he was still in his pajamas.

Sunny’s floor piece was already empty, as Sunny liked to get up early. Glory, on the other hand, probably had never gone to sleep. Clay frowned at her unruffled blankets as he nudged Nami. 

Nami sat up, grumbling at him, but stopped when he pointed at Glory’s floor spot. Nami’s face fell as she sighed and went over to the little room that served as an office. Clay followed her.

“Glory….” Nami said softly.

Glory turned around and pushed a strand of lime-green hair out of her face. “I’m sorry, but there’s so much work to do….”

“That we could just as easily do for you,” Nami pointed out, helping Glory up and half-shoving her back to their room.

Glory mumbled a few protests before allowing herself to be shoved into the blankets. Nami flung a few on top of her and sternly said “Now sleep.”

Clay followed Nami downstairs, chuckling over Nami’s fierceness.  Sunny was already taking cinnamon rolls out of the oven, while Ash hung the signs and generally fussed about getting ready. 

“They’re coming in again today, right?” Clay asked awkwardly. 

“Specifically Pele, right?” Nami said mischievously.

“ _ No,”  _ Clay said, blushing. Although he did mean Pele, actually. Kind of. 

“Aww, Clay likes Pele!” Sunny giggled.

Clay grumbled.  
Sunny swatted him with a napkin. “It’s okay dork, she likes you too. Way more obviously, too.”

“What are you talking about?” Clay said.

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “She always talks about you, she blushes whenever she looks at you, how did you not notice?”

Clay, in an attempt to distract Sunny, pointed at the door. “Oh look they’re coming in!”

Everyone turned to greet the six college students who were their most reliable customers. 

Luna entered first, pushing a strand of black hair out of her face and clinging to a book. She waved at the others and sat down at a table, hiding behind her book. 

Nicolas pushed in next, and sat down to study Luna intensely. It was obvious to everyone that he loved her, except possibly Luna herself. 

Pele and Sam followed, Pele knocking over the gumball machine as she did every day. Sunny, expecting this, set it back up. Sam waved a cheerful hello to everyone, high-fived Nami, and bought a cinnamon roll. Clay handed a napkin to Pele, who had just spilled water on herself when she looked at him. 

Quince and Cherry came in next. Quince went to tease Nicolas about Luna, while Cherry asked Sunny “Where’s Glory?” excitedly twirling a strand of pink hair. 

“Sleeping,” Nami said glumly. 

“Oh.” Glory was Cherry’s idol, for some odd reason. Cherry brightened a few minutes later and went to talk to Sam, who blushed and stuttered. 

Phoebe entered last. “Hi Ash!” she grinned widely. 

Ash waved a hello in her direction. He liked Phoebe and she liked him, but he still kind of liked Sunny. Teenage love is a complicated thing. 

“What would you like?” Nami said to Cherry and Phoebe. 

“A mango smoothie and raspberry scone,” Cherry said immediately. 

Phoebe shrugged. “I’ll take some soy milk and a chocolate chip scone.” 

Nami collected the scones and milk and handed them to the girls. Sunny darted over with a mango smoothie. Cherry and Phoebe said quick thank-yous and headed towards their friends. 

Glory came downstairs, blinking in the light. “Mornin,” she mumbled. 

“Hi Glory!” Cherry waved from her spot at the table. 

Glory smiled and half-waved back. “What can I do to help?” she questioned. 

“Nothing, we’ll call you down when it gets more busy. Get more sleep,” Clay said not unkindly. 

“No, I can help!” Glory protested, letting herself be shoved away by Sunny. 

“You need more than fifteen minutes of sleep. Go to sleep,” Ash said. 

This being a near-daily ritual, Luna and her friends didn’t blink an eye. 

Glory made her way back upstairs and the others set about preparing for the day. At around 7:15, the students got up, said their goodbyes, and dashed out to get to school on time. 

At 7:30, the first real customer arrived, and then someone else, and by 8:00 it was time to call Glory down.

“Glory?” Sunny called up. When no one answered, she went upstairs and managed to shake Glory awake. 

“You really need to get better sleep,” Sunny lectured her. She handed Glory a cinnamon roll and soy milk. “Eat this, brush your teeth, and come downstairs, we’re getting customers.”

Glory came down 20 minutes later and began helping out. Customers increased steadily until 1:00, when the lunch rush quieted down a little and the friends had a moment to rest. 

“Sandwich?” Nami offered. Everyone took the sandwiches and ate them happily. 

The five young adults leaned back in their chairs and quietly thought. On days like these, it was hard to recall how it had all started. 


	2. (1) Past

**17 years ago**

The small, blond girl sniffled. She was sitting in the middle of a depressingly bare room, with exactly five beds placed in a circle around it. They were all impeccably neat, and only varied in what was hidden beneath their covers. 

The girl drew her legs up to her chest and sniffed again. Four children were sitting there just  _ staring  _ at her, and she  _ hated  _ it, and she wanted Momma back….

The girl, Sunny, let out a small sob. 

“What do we do?” one boy asked. He had brown hair and looked like he might be in school already. Older than Sunny, definitely. 

“Is she crying?” asked another boy. He looked younger, and his hair was black. They both looked nice. 

“Yes, she’s crying!” a girl said angrily. Sunny flinched and the girl said in a quieter voice “Oh, sorry.” Her hair was curly and pretty.

“Clay, you help,” another girl said. She had fluffy brown hair that looked like she cut it herself. 

“Why me?” the brown-haired boy-Clay-asked. 

“You’re the best at being nice to people,” the fluffy haired girl said. 

“Better than Cassie and Duke, that’s for sure,” the curly haired girl said. 

“Oh hush, Glory,” the black-haired boy said. 

Glory humphed. 

“Hi, I’m Clay,” Clay said. “I’m 6. That’s Glory, Nami, and Ash. They’re all 5. What’s your name?”

Sunny sniffed again and wiped away a tear. “I’m S-Sunny.” She held up three fingers. “Tee.”

Clay nodded. “You’re really little. I was 3 when I came here too.”

“Really?” Sunny said. 

Clay nodded. “It’s really nice to have somebody new here. I hope you’ll like it-”

“You probably won’t,” Glory interrupted. 

“But at least you’ll have us!” Clay said with a big smile. 

Sunny managed to smile back.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what I meant when I said "children are not taken care of properly." You'll see more in later chapters.   
> Next chapter, we're back to the future!


	3. (2) Present

Sunny hummed happily as she poured some iced tea. With a clinking and popping noise, she tossed in three ice cubes and handed it to Clay to serve. 

“Uh, Sunny?”  
“Hmm?”

“That guy over there is checking you out,” Clay said, pointing semi-subtly at a guy who was indeed watching Sunny maybe slightly more intently than necessary. “Do you want me to handle it?”

“No, no, I got this,” Sunny reassured him. “What’d he order?”

Clay checked the orders. “Coconut milk and almond scone.”

Sunny nodded. “Okay then. I’ll deliver it.” 

It took a couple minutes of Sunny ignoring the guy’s looking, but she eventually did collect coconut milk and an almond scone and walked over to the table. 

“Why, thank you,” the man said. 

“It’s my job,” Sunny replied with slightly forced cheeriness. 

The man smiled at her. “So, does that mean I can always find you here?”

“Oh, yes,” Sunny said brightly. “But unfortunately, you should probably stop hoping, because I’m not interested in you in the least.”

“What, you gay or something? Because-”

“No, I’m aromantic asexual~!” Sunny said, already walking away, confident in her friendly rejection skills. 

“What does that me-”

“Google~!”

“Nice job,” Nami said, high-fiving Sunny. “And he didn’t even leave!”

“I know!” Sunny said, starting to mix a smoothie. “I am good at this!”  
“Yeah,” Nami agreed. “Also, now that you very clearly told him you’re not interested, I’m legally allowed to tell him off if he keeps looking at you.” She discreetly made a ‘eyes on you’ gesture at the man.

“I can take care of myself!” Sunny said. 

“I know,” Nami grinned, bagging a bagel. “But you’re my friend slash younger sister, so I will beat up anyone who disrespects you.”  

“And I will verbally do the same,” Glory chimed in. 

“We platonically love you, Sunny!” Clay said. 

Sunny beamed. “Aw, you guys, I platonically love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Them: Sunny is too kind for her own good.  
> Me: Sunny is a nice person who Takes No Crap.


	4. (2) Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> april fools children it's angst time

**16 years ago**

It was Clay’s seventh birthday, and it felt disappointingly normal. 

Normal waking up, normal breakfast, normal studying of stupid boring history, normal getting yelled at by Cassie for not liking stupid boring history, normal friends trying to help but just making Cassie angrier. It was all too normal. 

After lessons, the kids were made to take their food upstairs to eat, instead of getting to eat downstairs like usual. 

Except they were in trouble more often than not, so this was yet another normal thing. 

“I’m sorry your birthday’s been bad,” Nami offered after several minutes of eating. “It’s kind of my fault.”

“It’s my fault,” Glory muttered, poking at her sandwich. “I was the one who called Cassie a poopyhead.”

“She deserved it, though,” Nami said fiercely. 

“Nami!” Ash said. 

“I don’ like lessons,” Sunny muttered. 

“Me neither,” Clay said, and Sunny smiled at him a little. 

“I’m sorry we don’t get dessert,” Nami said after another pause. “That’s my fault, too.”

“ _ My  _ fault,” Glory said again.

“It’s okay,” Clay said. “It’s just normal.”

“But birthdays shouldn’t be normal!” Ash cried. “I remember when I was three? Before I got here? I had a dessert on my birthday then! And there was a giraffe, I think.”

“You’re makin that up,” Nami muttered. 

“What’s a giraffe?” Sunny asked. 

Clay finished his sandwich. 

(That night, after dinner, West brought them a cookie to share, which wasn’t very normal, so things were a little better.)

**Author's Note:**

> I plan to switch between flashback chapters and current chapters, so next chapter will be a flashback.


End file.
